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adding OEM A/C to non A/C


sendo

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I'm in the process of going the opposite direction on my donor body shell.  I was surprised to find out the firewalls and cowl areas of the body shell have differences.   After much debate I decided to move the firewalls from my original body to the donor as ac and non-ac have different openings.  I also transferred the ducts for the upper cowl vents.  The lower cowl vent on the drivers side had a block-off plate on the ac car and a vacuum actuator on the passenger side in place of the hand pull operated flaps on each side of non ac car.

I have all of the ac components except the compressor from the donor car if you need anything.

Here's the drivers side ac car without the upper cowl duct (drivers side)

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After adding the duct

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Non ac firewall

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Ac firewall

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Firewall out after drilling out many spot welds

20181021_104754.thumb.jpg.81fc4b5deb0797bac19732921af75e38.jpg

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I have done it. Not really that big a deal. Better I show you PICs of what was done as opposed to trying to explain W/O pictures. Send me an E-mail at HPEXPATRIOT@yahoo.com and we can exchange info. I did it with a 72 MC with a BBC. People think this is an effort like raising the Titanic from the bottom of the Atlantic, it isn't.

There are a couple of key things you need to know and some fabrication skills required and then with those two things the job can be done WITHOUT welding. Existing holes in the firewall are all ya need along with a bit of cutting. After Turkey ( assuming I am not asleep) I can find my pictures. My photo cataloging skills are not as good as my A/C installation skills so the search might take some time.

I did it with the dash in place, the engine in place and with the hood attached. You gotta remove the pass side inner fender and get the pass side front tire off.  Inside the car it is easier if you remove the pass side bucket seat. Dash pad has to come out also. All of these things are about access and working without twisting your back and neck into knots. Make no mistake this will take patience but it is in no way like "landing a man on the moon and returning his safely to the earth" as some people seem to think it is.

If you can get that complete system from the fellow who is swapping out an OEM system DO IT. Get every nut bolt back and watchamcallit. The air blending / mixing and defrost capability of the OEM unit is far superior to that of the aftermarket systems IMHO.

Ray

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  • 3 weeks later...
10 hours ago, sendo said:

Sendo, that looks exactly (except for the snazzy chrome finish) like the one I used when I installed the Classic Auto Air system in my 402 '70.  I simply cleaned repainted an original 3-groove pulley that I picked up at a swap meet for $5.  

I am not in the same location as my '70 454 with factory A/C right now so I can't check that pulley or belt configuration but the 1970 Assembly Manual shows the following belt configuration for the crank pulley:  the alternator runs on the larger outboard groove and the water pump pulley; the power steering pump runs in the center groove; and the A/C  runs on the inboard groove. 

If you don't already have one, I strongly suggest you get the 1970 Chevelle/El Camino/Monte Carlo Factory Assembly Instruction Manual.  It will be invaluable for the project you are doing and many others.  You can get one on eBay at this LINK.  See page 160 for belt configuration and pages 450- 517 for RPO C60 air conditioning. Good luck.

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My 71 doesn't have A/C, never did, but I found almost everything I needed to add it but never did, too much work. Good luck!

Bruce

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My 71 doesn't have A/C, never did, but I found almost everything I needed to add it but never did, too much work. Good luck!

Bruce

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17 hours ago, sendo said:

That looks like the correct GM pulley again as mentioned above, with the exception of the snazzy chrome plating. I think there was only one pulley for the BBC cars back in that time frame. The two smaller groves should be the same diameter.

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  • 4 weeks later...

trying to figure where to drill for a/c harness

E1=.182 dia for ground?

E2=1,00 dia for vacuum lines?

E3=.25 dia for plenum door(5) holes

E4=.62  dia for plenum door vacuum line?

now where does the harness assembly come in?

IMG_2239(1).JPG

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WOW, you have more ambition than I ever did. I took everything from a junk Monte with A/C and was going to add it to my Non A/C Monte but never did it. I even got part of the fire wall when I found out it was so different than mine. Good Luck!

Bruce

 

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